CAMPAIGNERS say they have been 'vindicated' after plans for a quarry near West Linton were denied.

West Lothian-based Stonepack Ltd. made the application to open a sand and gravel quarry at Slipperfield.

However, on Monday (August 1) the Planning and Building Standards Committee at Scottish Borders Council (SBC) upheld the views of planning officers to refuse the company’s application.

The report concluded that the application was in “contravention of national objectives and Local Development Plan policies on securing additional reserves and extraction of minerals, whilst ensuring that the environmental impacts are either acceptable with mitigation and/or outweighed by the demonstration of significant public benefit”.

Conservative Kelso councillor Simon Mountford, executive member for estate management and planning at SBC, told the Peeblesshire News: “The planning committee unanimously supported the planning officer’s recommendation to refuse this application.

“The proposed site for the quarry at Slipperfield is within the Pentland Hills Special Landscape Area and the primary reason for our decision was the unacceptable impact that the proposed development would have on the landscape and the setting of the Roman road.

“Members of the committee were also concerned about the existence of the INEOS ethylene pipeline running through the site.”

Peeblesshire News: The Antonine Guard visited West Linton last year to support campaigners against the quarry. They're photographed marching along the old Roman Road. Photo: Quarries Action GroupThe Antonine Guard visited West Linton last year to support campaigners against the quarry. They're photographed marching along the old Roman Road. Photo: Quarries Action Group

The proposed quarry would have operated for 14 years with an additional 18 months to reinstate the site to be suitable for grazing and woodland.

A spokesperson from Dalgleish Associates Ltd., which represents the applicant, said of the decision: “It would be fair to say that we were disappointed with the committee’s decision.”

Over the last two years the Quarries Action Group (QAG) has been campaigning to stop the development of the quarry at West Linton.

Archie Hunter, from the QAG, said: “The unanimous decision by the nine councillors on the SBC planning committee on Monday at Newtown St Boswells to reject the application to extract sand and gravel at South Slipperfield near West Linton came as a great relief to the members of the Quarries Action Group (QAG) who have campaigned hard over the last two years against the application.”

He added: “I would like to express my gratitude to all my QAG colleagues; the unanimous decision by the planning committee is vindication of all your hard work.

“I would also like to acknowledge the many and varied submissions by the general public to the SBC on this application, both for and against the application.

“The whole process has been a fine example of democracy at work.”